NEW TALAVAN TIMES December-08/January-09 Newsletter Reporter-Yogindra Vandana das. Writer: Sridevi dasi [Dr. Lakshmi Dajak]. Editing- HG Chandrabhanu das. Typist- Evie. Layout and design - Ramatoshan das. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. YOGA STUDIO VISITS OUR TEMPLE. 2. SERIES ON SRI SIKSASTAKAM COMPLETED. 3. KRISHNA S DAY, DECEMBER 25 th 2008. 4. NEW YEAR S DAY, JAN 1 st 2009. 5. DRAVIDA DAS OF BBT FAME VISITS US. 6. DASARATH SUTA DAS PRESENTS A SUNDAY FEAST OF MUSIC. 7. COMING EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR SEVA.
Dear Devotees, Friends and Well Wishers, Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! All glories to our Gurus! Here is our newsletter chronicling the events of December 2008 and January 2009! As we ushered in the New Year 2009 we looked forward to more opportunities to better serve devotees and felt we have been given another chance to serve our gurus, especially His Holiness Jayapataka Swami who is making a miraculous recovery after a serious brain hemorrhage. But first let us wrap up with the events of the last month of last year-december 2008. YOGA STUDIO VISITS OUR TEMPLE December showed up, and it remained unusually warm for most of the month-not that we were complaining! Everyone enjoyed some lovely, clear, sunny days and actually wore summer clothes! On such a fine day, the Swan River Yoga studio group from New Orleans arrived. It was Sunday, December 7 th and Michelle Baker and her students attended Arti and Kirtan and danced joyously to the beat of the mrdangas and karatalas with the Hare Krsna Mahamantra resounding in the temple room. After that, our T.P., Yogindra Prabhu, announced the day s program which was packed with interesting events. To continue, Mother Sridevi dasi was requested to speak on the last verse of Siksastaka for class. The group, who listened attentively, participated in the discussion with interesting questions and joined in singing the Hare Krsna Mahamantra joyfully. Sumptuous prasadam cooked by our intrepid Mother Maharani Tulasi Devi Dasi, Mother Gaura and others was relished by all. Dwibhuja das of Blue Boy Herb Co., our herbal magic man, held an herb walk for the yoga enthusiasts. Then they visited the Desire Tree Store and went to the temple for tea and yoga stories by Michelle Baker, the Studio director and event organizer. Dasaruth Suta das gave us a moving flute recital and spoke on bhakti yoga, and he was accompanied by Krsna Sundar das on harmonium. Michelle next dived into an hour-plus Jivamukti yoga session. Afterwards, everyone enjoyed cake and herbal tea and went to see the cows. They returned for dinner and bhajans by Kaivalya and a fire yajna with Yogindra to close out the evening. This was the best crowd of guests we ve ever had! We look forward to hosting them more often and invite other yoga studios to also come. SERIES ON SRI SIKSASTAKAM COMPLETED December 14 th - the next Sunday - saw Mother Kaivalya Sundari Devi Dasi expounding on the last verse of Siksastakam at length. The finer points and deeper meanings of each verse were also enlisted much to the appreciation of the audience. The Sri Siksastakam is very special to devotees as these are the only writings of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Yugavatara for this age of Kali, who, though the foremost Sanskrit scholar, chose to leave only these eight verses. Thus, the series of Sri Siksastakam verses begun by His Holiness Candramauli Swami on October 12 th was completed on December 14 th, 2008. KRISHNA S DAY, DECEMBER 25 th 2008.
The next week saw all the New Talavana devotees gearing up for Christmas Day, popularly called Krishmas Day by devotees. As many people get an off-day, a large group of guests were expected. Devotees from New Orleans, several members of our congregation, first time visitors, old-timers, and friends came to visit. The altar and the Deities were gorgeously dressed up for the occasion in red and green, and several people had left large gift boxes, bhoga, etc. as gifts for Krsna. As usual, a resounding kirtan took off, led by Krsna Sundar Das, and the group of guests, devotees and friends chanted enthusiastically with great happiness. Then a short class emphasizing the importance of the Holy Name, the necessity of chanting the Holy Name and distributing it to others and practicing bhakti yoga was given by his grace Yogindra Vandana Das, our Temple President. Mother Maharani Tulasi, our enthusiastic show-biz girl, had arranged a small entertainment program. Mother Sridevi Dasi sang some Krsna-ized Christmas carols which were well received by the appreciative audience who clapped along. O Come All Ye Faithful, Kaliya- the many hooded serpent, and This is Krishna s Season, were belted out by Mother Sridevi, who takes delight in offering such entertainment to serve devotees; who in turn offer encouragement in the form of kind words. After this was the gift-opening ceremony. One by one Yogi Prabhu read out loud the lovely cards expressing loving sentiments for our Deities while Mother Sridevi opened the gifts and displayed them to our Deities and then to the audience who admired the jewels, necklaces, earrings, chains etc. Not to be outdone, Mother Lilavatara bought large, goodquality stainless steel pots and received enthusiastic applause for her contribution. Mother Sripati and her family along with their gifts had made pecan pralines- a delicacy that is mouth watering. Mother Syamalata and family, Duibhuja and family, and so many others showed their love for Sri Sri Radha Kanta by their generous gifts. Please pardon us for not enumerating all the donors, but we gratefully thank each and every one of you for supporting our temple. NEW YEAR S DAY, JAN 1 ST 2009. Krishna s Day was the prelude to the New Year which followed exactly a week later. January 1, 2009 arrived and with it came some cold weather but not enough to damper anyone s spirits. Everyone was requested to bring one dish, and the temple provided rice, dal, and a sparkling grape juice drink which disappeared in no time. The auditorium was fully packed and, being a lovely day, many people chose to sit outside soaking in the sun later in the afternoon when it warmed up. The kirtan was superb- it was ringing out the old and ringing in the new, and class was given, followed by a pot-luck lunch. Many guests who came were students from University of Southern Alabama (Mobile), and some were our congregational members and Indian families from Hattiesburg. Everyone enjoyed the
company and wished each other a very happy New Year. One guest who had last visited our temple 5 years previously noted that there were many changes and the temple community had grown. Some of our young Indian students from the University of Southern Alabama were very curious to know how the Americans had adopted the Vedic culture. This writer, who was with the group of students at the prasadam table, invited Mother Mahalaksmi Radha Devi Dasi, who has been dressing the Deities at New Talavana for 31 years, to tell her story of her adaptation to the culture, which began with Bhakti Yoga. The students were very impressed and continued to ask more questions, which Mother Mahalaksmi patiently answered. DRAVIDA DAS OF BBT FAME VISITS US The devotees at New Talavana then waited for the arrival of His Grace Dravida Das, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada for over 35 years, who has worked extensively for the B.B.T. as writer and editor. We were rewarded with a week of wonderful nectar! His grace first made a presentation called Responsible Publishing, which enumerated and explained the rationale behind the revisions and translations of Srila Prabhupada s transcendental literature. His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada wanted his disciples to painstakingly go through every book and correct every mistake so that the books would meet exemplary standards in terms of language used, punctuation, grammar, and faithfulness to the original Sanskrit meaning. In addition, Srila Prabhupada s faith in his main editor, His Holiness Jayadvaita Swami, was revealed to the audience. Many questions were raised, and Dravida Prabhu ably answered each and every one of them. After every presentation we were treated to dessert which consisted of Sanskrit verses by the great acharyas translated into English poems and then put to music. Dravida Prabhu had us all enchanted with the wonderful showering of nectar throughout that week, glorifying Krsna s name, form, qualities and pastimes. We can still remember Oh King of Sweet, You re Sweet Complete, with Dravida Prabhu singing Yes, Krsna is the King of sweet. We take this opportunity to thank His Grace Hari das for his energetic efforts to bring Dravida prabhu to New Talavan. On the last day of his visit Dravida Prabhu gave us a tutorial on Sanskrit pronunciation. Although the material was covered very rapidly, the audience gained a little more knowledge of Sanskrit. Srila Prabhupada wanted his disciples to learn as well and pronounce Sanskrit verses correctly. That weekend was the Temple Presidents meeting in Houston, and so Yogi Prabhu was gone. Adhrita Prabhu, our Head Priest, requested Mother Sridevi Dasi to give the Sunday feast lecture on January 18 th, 2009 on Bhagavad Gita As It Is 3:31, which emphasized the importance of following Lord Sri Krsna s instructions. Dr. Krsna Nelluri and his wife and friends from Biloxi attended the program and shared their experiences following Katrina with us. The next day, Monday, our TP, Yogindra Vandana das, gave us an update on the TP s meeting during morning class. DASARATH SUTA DAS PRESENTS A SUNDAY FEAST OF MUSIC
Dasarath Suta Das, a gifted musician disciple of Srila Prabhupada and who is a frequent visitor to New Talavana, came the following weekend and entertained us with a soul-stealing flute recital with recitation of transcendental poems such as Vrindavan Fun, Let s Go Spiritual Soul, with accompaniment of Krsna Sundar Das on the keyboard, harmonium and mrdanga, and Mother Revati on the flute and karatalas. After Dasarath Suta Das performance, it was so hard to drag our minds, hearts and bodies back to the present! We were all transported to Vrindavan for that hour, thanks to the transcendental flute playing. COMING EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR SEVA This Thursday, February 5 th is Ekadashi and the day following is the Appearance Day of Lord Varaha, which also is Mahadvadashi. So we fast until noon on both days and then celebrate the appearance of the Lord in His boar incarnation. The next day, Saturday, February 7 th, is the appearance day of Lord Nityananda. Although it is a month away, we would like to take this opportunity to inform everyone about the most auspicious appearance day of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu-Gaura Purnima on March 10 th, 2009. For Gaura Purnima we are humbly requesting sponsors to come forward and generously contribute some laksmi for the Deity dress. The cost is $1500, which includes the shipping. Our Doyamaya prabu, who has recently received permission to apply for a green card as a religious worker, is sponsoring subjis and rice, and so we need sponsors for sweets and drinks and other preparations. Program starts at 4:30 with abhiseka, 6pm arti, followed by drama and story telling and of course the wonderful feasting and honoring of prasadam. Please take any of these opportunities for seva and gain the mercy of the Lord. Please do not hesitate to call or e-mail us with any questions, and we will be only too happy to help you. With all due respects, Your servant, Yogindra Vandana dasa Adhikari. Temple President P.S: We have recently had a new calf. If you would like to adopt her then you may name her. The adoption donation is $1008.00 for her first two years of life.